


poppies

by orphan_account



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: AU, Gen, Genderfluid Character, shitty background college roommates setup
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-10
Updated: 2014-04-10
Packaged: 2018-01-18 21:57:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1444324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a lot of things to consider when you live with somebody else, and Jean really hasn't considered any of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	poppies

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr mirror - http://lichenmonarch.tumblr.com/post/82312460144/just-a-quick-lazy-story-featuring-genderfluid  
> also im awful with computers so if anybody could tell me how to imbed links in the notes section instead of copypasting the url thatd be really appreciated!!

A Kirschtein will never have a roommate, because if he can’t afford to live on his own he will most likely be ignored by the rest of his family until he stops embarrassing them. So Jean doesn’t really know how to tell his father that he’s getting one, getting a roommate, but don’t worry, not because he’s broke or anything, it’s just…

“He can’t pay his rent, so I just offered. You know. To be nice.” Jean shrugs. His act of charity does not soften his father’s disapproving face. 

“I suppose I can’t stop you. But he’d better not be a slob. No pets. No smoking. No parties. And if he damages the property in any way…remember who’s paying for all of this, Jean.”

Jean nods a lot. He remains within the rickety perimeters of his father’s grace for now. That means another month of rent paid for, car payments covered, full pantry. Plus a new roommate. A tidy roommate with no pets, no cigarettes, no parties; quite an apt description of Marco indeed.

Naturally, Jean wasn’t in college to make friends. He was there for the piece of paper that told his future employers that he’d heard from a professor all the information his father had already taught him. But then he happened to be in a study group with this freckled farmboy, and they happened to hit it off a little, and they happened to start going to Denny’s together under the guise of one-on-one study sessions, and when Jean started insisting on paying for them both he knew he was in trouble. Just that morning, during their weekly Denny’s study session turned desperately don’t acknowledge that this is probably a date, Marco had apologized. “I really won’t be able to get together for the next week or two; I have to move.”

Moving where, exactly? To his great-aunts dripping basement because his old roommate bailed out on him to go get married, his manager refuses to give him more hours, textbooks for the quarter decimated his bank account but rent is still due in four days. Jean slurped his milkshake in sympathy. Gosh, not having a criminal defense lawyer for a father must really be awful, huh?

Then he happened to let slip that his apartment is two-bedroom but he’s living alone, not using the second bedroom for anything really…now he’s scheduled to drive to Marco’s old apartment the next morning to try and load all his possessions into his car. It’s over, he can feel it in his bones; he’s done for. There is no way he’s going to survive rooming with Marco with his dignity intact. 

It’s awkward at first, or really, Jean makes it awkward. He doesn’t know how to live with somebody else. He doesn’t know how to share the kitchen counter, doesn’t know how to accommodate Marco’s vegetarianism, and this whole only jerking it in the shower deal is complete bullshit. There is a lot he never considered. But it works, very slowly and a little tentatively. Jean figures out that he’s a lot more malleable than he imagined, and that doing things like leaving a note to say where he’s going out to, or picking up his dirty clothes regularly, isn’t really that hard. 

For his part, Marco is an incredible roommate. He’s tidy and cooks really well (even if there’s no meat) and maybe he’s a titch secretive but it feels more like ‘I’m still not entirely comfortable around you’ sort of secretive, as opposed to the far less favorable ‘my second job is crack dealer’ secretive. Often, in the late afternoon, he’ll go out to see friends and tiptoes back into the apartment at three in the morning, courteous enough to not wake Jean up. Jean wakes up anyways but pretends he doesn’t because somehow complaining about it seems rude. 

One night, or more realistically a very early morning, Marco makes his way back home and once again, no matter how delicately he walks across the room, the floorboards continue to creak. Jean wakes up immediately, wanting to punch his feather-light sleeping habits in the face. He stares at the ceiling for the longest time before decided falling back asleep isn’t worth it. The sun will be up in under an hour anyway so he might as well start his day painfully early. 

Dragging himself to the kitchen for some coffee, he sees the bathroom light is on and the door is halfway open. He changes route to offer a hopefully non-resentful ‘good morning’.

“Good morn-” he starts but can’t quite finish. There stands Marco, looking worried, wearing some incredibly bright aqua lipstick with glitter mixed in with his freckles. He’s also got this nice little dress with poppies on it (the poppies are the exact same color as his lipstick. Jean is impressed). 

There doesn’t seem an awful lot to say, but Jean tries anyways. “Was this all, erh…did you have to get dressed in a public bathroom or something?” He doesn’t say anything about being almost positive Marco didn’t leave the apartment last night looking like this, because if he did he thinks he would remember that. 

“Yeah.”

“You don’t have to, like, do that or anything. Just do your thing here, man; it’s your apartment too.” 

Marco bobs his head a few time a bit like a confused bird. “Do you...want me to explain anything?”

“Kind of, yeah.” Jean winces right after he says it because once the words are spoken he realizes how much saying it like that makes him sound like an asshole. He wants to jump right back in with something like ‘I mean, only if you want to’ or ‘I don’t really care; it’s cool’. Anything that doesn’t make him sound so demanding, or like he thinks he should be owed something. But Marco speaks up quick. 

“This might sound a little strange to you but I’m not…I’m not a boy, but I’m not a girl either, if that makes sense.”

This time Jean settles on nodding, feeling like anything that comes out of his mouth from here on out will be a mistake. He doesn’t quite get what Marco means by that but he figures that if he was able to learn to write up legal contracts, then he should be able to wrap his head around this gender thing too. 

The bathroom has gone into silence so Jean decides to speak up just one more time. “It’s early as hell, so I’m going to make some coffee. If there’s…uhm, if you want to talk more or whatever I’ll be in the kitchen.” 

“Yeah,” Marco smiles, showing off the part of his inner lip where the lipstick has been worn off, “yeah, coffee sounds nice.”


End file.
